The Veterinary Care Accessibility Score
This map shows the VCAS for every county throughout the contiguous 48 states.
Click on a state to see its average VCAS.
Zoom in to explore VCAS at the county level
For details on the data and variables in the VCAS and map, check out the Data Dictionary
To learn more about how the VCAS is generated, go to Constructing the VCAS
About the Veterinary Care Accessibility Score
VCAS Version 1.0
The Veterinary Care Accessibility Score is an index that describes the accessibility of veterinary care in counties across the contiguous lower 48 states of the United States*. The index incorporates data on issues that affect access to care: income, transportation, language, veterinary hospitals. The VCAS is built in the image of other indices that mathematically summarize complex problems. For example, the Social Vulnerability Index, which summarizes negative effects on communities caused by external stresses, and the County Health Rankings evaluates community health by incorporating data on health care, behavior, social factors, and public policy.
*As of this time, inadequate data exists for Alaska and Hawaii
A Useful Tool
The VCAS is a tool. We intend for it to be used to help stakeholders make decisions regarding efforts related to veterinary access to care. For example: a foundation could use the VCAS to focus funding for projects; an industry executive may use it to strategize around bringing service to untapped markets; a county representative may use it to grow their tax base by creating a more pet friendly city. These are just a few examples, of course. The bottom line is this: the VCAS is intended to be useful; if you have ideas on how to make it more so, please get in touch.
VCAS Version 2.0
The VCAS is dynamic. The underlying data is ever-changing and there is always room to enrich the index to gain more clarity. Version 1.0 lays the groundwork, including essential background information while introducing some new, key metrics, like Veterinary Employees per 1,000 Pets (see Data Dictionary). The upcoming versions of the VCAS will delve further into veterinary economics, health conditions, disease, and more.
We are currently sourcing data for:
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Veterinary care pricing
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Disease testing, incidence, and prevalence
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Disease prevention compliance and vaccinations
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Payment plan availability
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Telemedicine implementation
If you are interested in contributing data, please get in touch.